


An Electric Unicorn

by Parrot_Slime



Category: Blade Runner (Movies), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Genre: Artificial Memories, Canon Compliant, Elevator Scene (Blade Runner), Epilogue, F/M, I suck at tags, Origami Unicorn (Blade Runner), Schizophrenia, Self-Reflection, Voight-Kampff tests, and summaries, probably incorrect depiction of schizophrenia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22258273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parrot_Slime/pseuds/Parrot_Slime
Summary: It's the end of the film, but it's not the end of the story. After the elevator doors close, Rick takes a moment to reflect on identity and what makes us human.
Relationships: Rick Deckard/Rachael
Kudos: 6





	An Electric Unicorn

Rick fingered the unicorn in his pocket. So Gaff knew about the dream, he thought. It was strange, that vision of the unicorn. It was one of many strange things that had happened to him lately, and after the business of the last day, he doubted he would ever have thought of it again. But then the small piece of paper in his hand began to make all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

There are several images that tend to be programmed into the minds of replicants. Most are artificial memories. After all, one couldn’t expect Tyrell Industries to create thousands of completely unique memories for its replicants. One such memory is a mother spider who was eaten by her babies.

Some of the programmed images are dreams. One of these dreams is of a unicorn.

Rick had never been one to feel much emotion. The urban landscape was his sedative: the noise, pollution, and isolation were a haze that shrouded his being and swept him from day to day. His existence had become hollow. Perhaps it always had been, and he himself was too hollow to notice. An empty man in an empty life.

He had long suspected that he was a schizophrenic. Everyday life was pervaded with a sense of flatness and dissociation, as though an invisible veil separated him from reality and smothered him until he forgot he ever needed to breathe. Once every so often, murmurs would echo out from the empty halls of his building, only to disappear in an instant. Perhaps the unicorn had been a paranoid hallucination.

Was he a replicant? Could he truly know? More importantly, did it make any difference in the end?

If he stayed in Los Angeles, the authorities would pursue him whether he was a replicant or not. Rachael was a fugitive whom he refused to kill. If they made him take the Voight-Kampff test, he wouldn’t pass if he were schizophrenic. The only real option was to run. No matter how many years of his lifespan were left, he’d be killed soon enough. For now, he and Rachael could only do what fugitives do best: run away without looking back.

The elevator slowed to a stop. As the doors slid open, they slipped out, around the corner, and into the night.

“Where are we going?” Rachael whispered.

Rick turned to face her, a finger pressed to his lips. “Trust me,” he mouthed. He glanced about; seeing no one, he ushered Rachael to his hovercar. He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. They would need cover; best to stay on the ground until they were out of the city. As he began to drive, he felt a rush of excitement. He had reached a new chapter in his life in which he was finally going to start living it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first work on AO3. I'm not surprised if it will be my last, as I am not a fiction writer. This was a flash fiction assignment for my film class (which is why it's so short), and I thought I might as well post it on here. Canon compliant with the Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Written in the style of Philip K. Dick.


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